Editorials
[31 Days of Halloween] Day Nineteen: Horror Comedy ‘The Final Girls’ Offers Fun and Feels
Saturday is Family Fun day during our 31 Days of Halloween celebration, and this entry is an absolute delight. A PG-13 horror comedy that serves as a perfect introductory course to the slasher, deconstructed tropes and all, The Final Girls also offers up a slew of endlessly likable characters. Characters that bring the emotion as often as they bring the laughs. There’s a poignancy to this story beyond just poking fun (lovingly) at the slasher subgenre. An emotional heft that means you should probably have tissues on standby along with your Saturday morning cereal. Or evening popcorn and pizza. Whatever time of day you choose to watch The Final Girls, make sure it’s with your favorite friends or family.
Synopsis: When Max reluctantly attends a tribute screening of a popular ‘80s slasher, Camp Bloodbath, that starred her late mother, she and her friends are accidentally sucked into the film itself. They soon realize they’re trapped inside the slasher’s world, and that they must team up with the film’s fictional characters to battle the machete-wielding masked maniac. For Max, it’s as much a fight for survival as it is a chance for closure over her mother’s death.
Key Players: Taissa Farmiga stars as Max Cartwright. Malin Akerman plays the dual role of Max’s mom Amanda and Camp Bloodbath scream queen Nancy. Max’s friends are played by Alexander Ludwig, Alia Shawkat, Thomas Middleditch, and Nina Dobrev. Adam DeVine, Angela Trimbur, Tory N. Thompson, and Chloe Bridges round out the fictional characters of Camp Bloodbath.
Why It’s on the List: It’s not the first time a horror comedy has broken down the slasher formula and its character tropes, but director Todd Strauss-Schulson and writers M.A Fortin and Joshua John Miller make it feel completely fresh with the film within a film narrative structure. It allows the modern characters to interact with ‘80s stock characters, providing a whole new angle for the humor. From a visual standpoint, it’s a beauty. If it’s not already clear, Max’s grieving of her late mother is a major focal point of the story, and her attempts to fill that void with the fictional character her mother portrayed makes for some seriously heartfelt moments. You’ll also never look at the Kim Carnes song “Bette Davis Eyes” the same way again.
She’s My Cherry Pie: Angela Trimbur’s character Tina is Camp Bloodbath’s requisite “slutty” party girl. When the whole gang devises a plan to lure the killer to their cabin in an attempt to destroy him, Tina is used as bait. The only problem? She helped herself to a stash of Adderall. It makes for one of the wackiest seduction scenes in all of slasher history.
Where You Can Watch: The Final Girls is available to stream on the Freeform and Sling apps. It’s also available digitally to rent.
Editorials
‘The Vampire Lestat’ Concert Event Launches New Season With The Ultimate Expression Of Fandom
There are thousands of passionate fans decked out in gothic chic and champing at the bit like feral creatures. They’re screaming for Lestat, a legendary vampire-turned-rock star, as if the entire crowd has been glamored into submission.
The entire experience is magic, but not because some supernatural thrall has been activated. What’s going on is even more special. It’s the power of the effusive fandom that’s been authentically assembled by AMC’s sublime Immortal Universe, namely Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, now, The Vampire Lestat.
The Vampire Lestat is far from the first Anne Rice adaptation, and it’s not as if there’s been a lack of erotic vampire material for audiences to sink their teeth into. On June 2nd, during a one-night-only spectacle, New York City’s prestigious Beacon Theatre shook from Sam Reid’s bravado performance and an audience full of adoring fans who had already memorized Lestat’s songs.
It’s clear that The Vampire Lestat just hits differently than its predecessors. It’s become more than just a TV series at this point, and this opulent display of ego, swagger, and pure sex is the perfect way to premiere the new season and give back to the fans who helped make Interview with the Vampire/The Vampire Lestat such a breakout success. It’s exactly the sort of hyperbolized hedonism that would make Lestat cackle.
For all intents and purposes, AMC has successfully created the illusion that this concert/premiere is just one of the many destinations on Lestat and his band’s 54-stop tour that is simultaneously playing out on this season of television. It’s such a sophisticated and thorough level of interactive fan engagement that the audience doesn’t just understand, but also manages to accentuate through its involvement.
It’s a level of seamless synergy that’s not unlike the give-and-take relationship of vampire and victim.
Before the concert started, “LeStans” were sitting in the Beacon and flipping through a fake Rolling Stone issue with Lestat emblazoned on the cover, complete with interviews with the undead frontman inside. Other fans were admiring the vinyl pressing of Lestat’s EP as they walked past a section of undead band merch. Fandom and fantasy blur together, and it all becomes this elaborate, immersive experience. Fan celebration, erotic gothic fantasy, and a lavish rock concert transform into one beautiful thing.
To this point, AMC Global Media’s Chief Content Officer and President of AMC Studios, Dan McDermott, introduced the event by reiterating to fans, “You are the heartbeat of the series.” That’s abundantly clear on nights like this as that heartbeat collectively pulses to this performance. In terms of how AMC engages with The Vampire Lestat’s fans, it’s as bold a reinvention as the season itself.
This intuitive gamble speaks to AMC’s creativity in this department and a fandom that is eager to seize such opportunities. It’s the same innovation that led to zombie walks for The Walking Dead and real-life Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant pop-ups from Breaking Bad. It’s a great way to pump up the audience for The Vampire Lestat and then maintain that enthusiasm for the whole season.
For most series, a rock ‘n’ roll concert just doesn’t make any sense as a promotional tool. The Vampire Lestat finds itself in a very unique position where it can deliver an excellent concert at an iconic theater, but also use it to showcase The Vampire Lestat’s music by Daniel Hart (who was shredding on stage alongside Reid and the rest of their band) and, more than anything, Sam Reid’s endless charisma.
The way in which Reid feeds off of the crowd’s energy, modulating his performance and giving different sections of the Beacon life, is a perfect distillation of the series’ thoughtful relationship with its audience and how it’s become such a breakout success for AMC. AMC Studios President Dan McDermott emphasized that the fans are the reason that the show is still here and why an event like this is even possible. It’s rare to see a series in which every single cog in the machine is so perfectly attuned to its fans. Reid’s fans already cheer whenever they see him, so why not translate that to a concert setting?
It’s clear in this season of television that Reid was born to be a rock star, but it’s surreal to see him effortlessly command the stage — and the audience — at every step of the concert. He recites Shakespeare monologues and bitches out Armand between songs, all while the audience screams in support. For the duration of this concert, Reid is Lestat, and he’s given thousands of fans a memory that’s as immortal as any vampire.
Now bring on the encore and get this show on the road!
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